Satoshi Tajiri
Satoshi Tajiri (Japanese: 田尻 智, born August 28, 1965) is the creator of Pokémon, responsible for the initial concepts which would lead to the metaseries as it exists today. Currently, he works as the CEO of Game Freak. Early life Satoshi Tajiri was born in , a suburb of Tokyo. His father was a salesman and his mother cared for him at home. As a young boy, he loved to explore the outdoors and was especially fascinated with insects. He loved to collect insects, hunting for them in ponds, fields and forests, constantly looking for new insects and coming up with new ways to catch insects such as beetles. He had such an interest in collecting and studying insects that he earned the nickname "Dr. Bug" among his peers. In the late 1970s, the fields and ponds that Tajiri loved as a child were paved over by apartment buildings and shopping centers. At this time, Tajiri's passion for insects moved to video games and arcades. Game Freak Tajiri got into games when he was at technical school, spending all his time in arcades. He did not like school, and began skipping classes to spend more time at the arcades. This confused and upset his parents, who felt he was throwing his future away. Tajiri spent so much time playing games that one arcade gave him a full-sized machine to take home."Pokémon: The Soap Opera! Part 1" PoJo's Unofficial Pokémon News & Price Guide Monthly Dec. 1999: 38. Eventually, Tajiri graduated from a two-year program at the . His father wanted him to be an electrical utility repairman, but this is not what he wanted. In 1981, when he was sixteen years old, Tajiri won a contest sponsored by Nintendo rival for a game design concept. A year later, in 1982, Tajiri and his friends formed a gaming magazine by the name of Game Freak. A friend and contributor to Game Freak was Ken Sugimori, who would later become the illustrator and designer of all of the Pokémon images, as well as the human characters and other aspects of the games. Throughout the 1980s, the Game Freak magazine had modest sales, and became quite popular among the gaming crowd. Originally, the magazine was written by hand, but as it grew more popular Tajiri began having it printed professionally. A typical issue cost ¥300 (around US$3.00) and was approximately 28 pages long. As Tajiri learned more about games, he became more interested in making them. He felt that the games on the market could be better than they were. He learned how to write software by first taking apart a to see how it worked and then learning how to program for it.Mortensen, Lori. Satoshi Tajiri: Pokémon Creator. Farmington Hills: KidHaven Press, 2009. Print. The programming language he used initially was Family BASIC, an implementation of the BASIC programming language for the Famicom.Szczepaniak, John. "Before They Were Famous". Retro Gamer (Imagine Publishing) (35): 75. In 1987, Tajiri published his first game, Quinty ( in North America). Two years later, he officially founded the company Game Freak, named after his magazine. Tajiri and Game Freak continued to develop many titles for companies such as Nintendo and Sega, such as 1991's (which won Tajiri the Character Design Award from the Multimedia Content Association of Japan), and , 1993's , and 1994's . In 1990, Tajiri published a book entitled Catch The Packland — Stories of Videogames from Youth. It contains sixteen stories about Tajiri's memories of playing arcade games when he was in high school and college. It was published by the Japanese Information and Culture Center. Pokémon In the early 1990s, when Tajiri first saw two children playing together with Game Boys using the Game Link Cable, he imagined insects crawling along the cable between the two systems. As he thought about the capabilities of the Game Link Cable, his idea for Pokémon grew, as he wanted to give modern children the chance to hunt for creatures as he did as a child. He pitched the idea for Pokémon to Nintendo, and although they didn't fully understand the concept of the game, he was given some initial funding anyway and concept work from another game design studio, Creatures, Inc.. Tajiri spent the next six years working on Pokémon. Shigeru Miyamoto, the man behind , , , and , was assigned to help in the development of the initial versions of Pocket Monsters, . During this time Tajiri came to admire Miyamoto as a mentor. As a tribute to Miyamoto and Tajiri, the of the games and have "Satoshi" and "Shigeru" among their default names, while the main character of the anime, Ash Ketchum, and his first rival, Gary Oak, are named the same, respectively. After six years of development, Pokémon Red and Green Versions were completed. Although the Game Boy's hardware was becoming outdated, the game still grew steadily in popularity because younger children could not afford brand-new console games so they turned to the inexpensive Game Boy games. The success of Pokémon led to various adaptations, an , and more Pokémon games and spinoff games. Game credits * (1989) - Producer, Director & Game Designer * (1991) - Director, Game Designer, Story * (1991) - Director, Game Designer * Magical Taluluto-kun (1992) - Producer * (1993) - Game Designer & Director, Map Design * Nontan to Issho: Kuru Kuru Puzzle (1994) - Planner, Supervisor * (1994) - Direction & Game Design * (1996) - Director, Game Design, Game Scenario, Map Design * Bazaru de Gozaru no Game de Gozaru (1996) - Advisor * Pokémon Blue (1996) - Director, Game Design, Game Scenario, Map Design * Bushi Seiryūden: Futari no Yūsha (1997) - Concept & Game Design * Game Boy Camera (1998) - Special Thanks * Pokémon Stadium (Japanese) (1998) - Original Game Design * (1998) - Director, Game Design, Game Scenario, Map Design * Hey You, Pikachu! (1998) - Pokémon Creator * '''Pokémon Trading Card Game (1998) - Pokémon Original Story * Super Smash Bros. (1999) - Original Game Staff ("Pokémon" Game Design, Direction) * Pokémon Snap (1999) - Pokémon Creator * Pokémon Stadium (1999) - Original Game Design * (1999) - Director, Game Design * (2000) - Executive Director * Pokémon Stadium 2 (2000) - Original Game Design * Pokémon Card GB2: Here Comes Team GR! (2001) - Pokémon Original Story * Pokémon Party mini (2001) - Original Pokémon * Pokémon Pinball mini (2001) - Original Pokémon * Pokémon Zany Cards (2001) - Original Pokémon * Pokémon Puzzle Collection (2001) - Original Pokémon * Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001) - Original Game Staff (Executive Director: Pokémon) * Pokémon Tetris (2002) - Original Pokémon * Pokémon Race mini (2002) - Original Pokémon * Pichu Bros. mini (2002) - Original Pokémon * Togepi's Great Adventure (2002) - Original Pokémon * (2002) - Executive Director * Pokémon Box: Ruby & Sapphire (2003) - Executive Director * Pokémon Channel (2003) - Pokémon Original Director * Pokémon Colosseum (2003) - Pokémon Games Designer * (2004) - Game Scenario, Executive Director * (2004) - Executive Director * Pokémon Dash (2004) - Pokémon Original Director * Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness (2005) - Pokémon Games Designer * (2005) - Executive Producer * Pokémon Trozei (2005) - Pokémon Original Director * Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team (2005) - Pokémon Original Director * (2006) - Executive Producer * Pokémon Battle Revolution (2006) - Pokémon Games Designer * Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Darkness (2007) - Pokémon Original Director * Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008) - Senior Supervisor * (2008) - Executive Producer * Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky (2009) - Pokémon Original Director * (2009) - Executive Producer * PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure (2009) - Original Pokémon Director * (2010) - Executive Producer * Learn with Pokémon: Typing Adventure (2011) - Games Original Director * PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond (2011) - Original Pokémon Director * Pokémon Conquest (2012) - Pokémon Original Director * (2012) - Executive Producer * Pokémon Dream Radar (2012) - Executive Producer * (2012) - Executive Producer * Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity (2012) - Pokémon Original Director * (2013) - Executive Producer * Pokémon Battle Trozei (2014) - Pokémon Games Original Director * The Thieves and the 1000 Pokémon (2014) - Pokémon Original Director * Pokémon Art Academy (2014) - Pokémon Original Director * Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U (2014) - Senior Supervisor * Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (2014) - Executive Producer * Pokkén Tournament (2015) - Pokémon Original Director * (2015) - Executive Producer * Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon (2015) - Pokémon Original Director * Great Detective Pikachu ~Birth of a New Duo~ (2016) - Original Pokémon Director * Pokémon Sun and Moon (2016) - Executive Producer * Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon (2017) - Executive Producer * (2017) - Executive Producer * Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! (2018) - Executive Producer Trivia * Tajiri's favorite Pokémon is ,Interview with Satoshi Tajiri on Game Center CX (Japanese TV) 2004 and he says that the swirl on its belly is meant to be its intestines, representing the fact that a tadpole's internal organs are able to be seen when it is picked up and inspected. * In an interview with in 1999, Tajiri stated that he sleeps for 12 hours, and then works on his games for 24 hours straight. He says that the irregular schedule helps him think of new ideas for games. * A biography of Tajiri entitled Satoshi Tajiri: Pokémon Creator was published in 2008 by . * In the in , there is a named Tajiri. External links * * Time interview with Satoshi Tajiri (Archived) * [http://www.crunkgames.com/?p=87&page=13 Interview with Satoshi Tajiri on Game Center CX (Japanese TV)] References Tajiri, Satoshi Tajiri, Satoshi Tajiri, Satoshi de:Satoshi Tajiri es:Satoshi Tajiri fr:Satoshi Tajiri it:Satoshi Tajiri ja:田尻智 zh:田尻智